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Dr. Heather Whitson

Neuroscience Professor

Heather Whitson, MD, is a distinguished professor in Neuroscience at The Duke School of Medicine. She is also the Director of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. She leads a collaborative Alzheimer's Disease initiative that brings together investigators from Duke University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, with a bold vision to transform dementia research and care across Eastern North Carolina.

Dr. Whitson is also interested in improving health services to better meet the needs of medically complex patients. Within the Duke Aging Center, she leads research efforts aimed at promoting resilience to late-life stressors (e.g. surgery, sensory loss, infection). She has developed a novel rehabilitation model for people with co-existing vision and cognitive deficits and she is part of a inter-disciplinary team seeking to improve peri-operative outcomes for frail or at-risk seniors who must undergo surgery. As a co-leader of a national resilience collaborative, she seeks to better understand the biological and psychological factors that determine how well we "bounce back" after health stressors.

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Dr. Heather Whitson
Durham, NC

Video Sample

This expert has been featured on:

NPR | Smithsonian Magazine | Scientific American | Yahoo! News | Huffpost | Upworthy | ABC 11 Raleigh-Durham

Suggested Interview Topics:

Alzheimer's Research | How to Age Gracefully | Which Factors Impact Our Longevity?

Suggested Interview Questions:

- What is the latest research on Alzheimer's? What do we believe causes it?
- There is a blood test now that may help detect Alzheimer's. Tell us about that.
- What are some of the biggest health challenges that aging Americans face?
- What are some things we should all be doing to live longer lives?
- Many of us are stressed. Why can stress impact our health and longevity?
- How does diet affect our longevity?

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